How to do a Costpoint platform change

Today, I am doing a Platform change. So I thought I'd share with you the approach we take on doing these projects.
1. Source is Oracle, Target is Microsoft SQL Server

2. Source is Microsoft SQL Server, Target is Oracle.

Case  1: Oracle to Microsoft SQL Server

1. Get a Copy of the MSS database that is similar in version and patch level as your source.
2. Compare the table, column and column positions of the Oracle and MSS database.
3. Create the columns that are missing in the MSS database only. (If there are more columns in the source those are usually Nullable).
4. Create a Linked Server in Microsoft SQL Server using MSORA OLEDB.
5. Truncate all the tables in MSS.(Do not drop them)
6. Create any custom table you wish.
7. Back up you blank database. It will save you so much time next time around.
8. Disable all the triggers.
9. Insert all the data via linked server.
10. Copy over those table with Long/text data types via DTS
11. Enable all the triggers.
12. Do a row count in Oracle and MSS.
13. Make sure they match up and you are done.

Case  2: Microsoft SQL Server to Oracle

1. The only difference is that you will be using a ODBC + HS link to connect to the MSS Server.
2. Also I wrote a stored procedure to copy over long and text fields in oracle.

The reason why people switch.

1. People go to Oracle because SQL server database is usually bigger. This has to do with the way MSS Costpoint database deal with a few of the datatypes. I.e. char instead of varchar
2. People go with SQL Server because it costs less. If you have a 6gb database, does it really matter if you save 2gb?

I will add more detail to each step in the coming weeks.